


tutoring and other mishaps

by almightykdy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Tutoring, but not too much of it, ten is a confused enemy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-16
Updated: 2019-03-16
Packaged: 2019-11-04 22:32:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17906912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/almightykdy/pseuds/almightykdy
Summary: There’s Ten who believes his hatred for Hendery is completely justified and there are absolutely no other feelings involved on his part. Then you have Hendery who ‘hates’ Ten simply because the elder is way too oblivious to how much Hendery actually likes him. And finally you have Sicheng and Kun who really just want the two of them to kiss and make up.





	tutoring and other mishaps

Hendery is a kind man, he really is. He enjoys helping people around him with anything and everything, and one would even say he always puts others before himself. Everyone who’s ever as much as said hi to him would confirm this, because Hendery is just that kind of person, loved by everyone around him (and rightfully so). 

Everyone loves Hendery and that’s the way it’s always been. 

  


“I fucking hate him,” Ten almost yells when he enters his and Kun’s humble apartment. They can’t afford anything too luxurious considering Kun’s still at university because he wants to finish his PhD, and Ten’s just started working, so their monthly income wasn’t that big. They’ve been living together ever since they first enrolled in college and while Ten was satisfied with stopping after getting his masters degree in business, Kun, ever the overachiever, had to take it to the next level and work his ass off to get a PhD. They’ve worked together well, both as friends and as roommates, and neither of them ever considered moving out or trying to get rid of the other (in a legal way of course). 

But ever since Ten started his Chinese lessons, Kun’s been considering moving out a lot more than ever. 

The reason Kun hasn’t moved out yet (besides the fact that Ten only asks for a quarter of the rent money) is that it’s technically Kun’s own fault, because he was the person who introduced Ten to Hendery, Ten’s current Chinese tutor. Kun tries not to be too hard on himself because there was no way to predict that it will turn out the way it did. It wasn’t that surprising that Ten disliked someone, but seeing Hendery project any form of negative emotion was a new experience for everyone involved (read: Kun and Hendery’s roommate, Sicheng). 

Sicheng blames it on sexual frustration, Kun blames it on Ten being an absolute asshole for no reason. 

“What did he do this time?” Kun asked when his friend flopped down on the couch, moving his legs onto Kun’s lap. The older of the two liked being overdramatic as he always made sure to roll his eyes and sigh loudly (no one actually sighs that loud), but he secretly liked the casualness the two of them had going. Call Kun a sap, but he loved his best friend. 

“He,” Ten started but paused right away. That was the thing; he always took way too long to come up with something that actually justified his anger towards his tutor. He never came up with anything valid and in Kun’s eyes it just looked like Ten didn’t know how to deal with someone being as genuinely kind as Hendery. “He.. he smiles too much, yes.” 

Another fun fact about Ten’s hate for Hendery was that in reality he was just attracted to his tutor and his emotionally constipated ass mistook it for hatred. Kun got hit every time he tried to explain to Ten that that’s what’s happening, and Kun stopped trying after a while. (He wasn’t too keen on getting hit.) 

“I couldn’t get this one word right and he just smiled at me instead of helping me out? And then he just said that he knew I can get it myself?” what truly made Kun believe that Ten doesn’t hate Hendery at all was the fact that despite all the times Ten came home complaining, he’s never once mentioned going to a different tutor and just forgetting all about his current one; the one he supposedly hates. 

“Did you? Get it by yourself?” Ten didn’t have to answer for Kun to know that he did. Hendery has this talent where he analyzed everyone’s abilities and skills perfectly and Ten wasn’t an exception. If Hendery thought Ten knows something, he was most probably right. And of course the control freak in Ten would hate knowing that there’s someone out there who knows Ten better than Ten knows himself. 

“But he’s my tutor, he’s supposed to be helping me, not letting me figure everything out by myself?” Kun almost laughed out loud at that. He himself has tried teaching Ten Chinese before, but they never got past basic greetings and a few curse words. And Kun tried his best, thank you very much. Hendery, contrary to Ten’s belief, was the sole reason why Ten was able to get the job he has because he was able to learn Chinese so quickly. Honestly, without Hendery Ten and Kun would be homeless because there’s no way in hell a college student and an unemployed man would be able to pay for the rent. 

Now onto Hendery. 

“I hate him, I hate him, I hate him,” Hendery kept repeating as if Sicheng hasn’t heard the first few hundred times he’s said it. (He heard all of it, unfortunately.) Now Hendery was a bit more self aware than Ten, Sicheng could admit as much, but the constant complaining was annoying nevertheless. 

“You just want to bone, it’s really not that deep,” unlike Kun, Sicheng’s never been one to sugarcoat his opinions. He believed that this whole mishap was unnecessary and everything could be resolved if the two of them just _boned_ , as he always said it. “You keep saying the same shit every time but it’s not like you even mean it. You would literally kiss the ground he walks on if he asked you to,” Sicheng then continued because he wasn’t in the mood for arguments, and he knew this will make Hendery shut up for a few hours. Being confronted with the truth always worked on him. 

“I don’t want to _bone_ ,” Hendery tried to defend himself. “I just want him to finally see that I like him instead of thinking that I’m out to kill him every time I smile at him,” honestly, all Sicheng got from that story was that Hendery indeed wants _to bone_ and the more he tries to deny it, the more obvious it gets. It was honestly surprising that Ten still hasn’t figured it out considering how often he boasts about his allegedly high IQ. 

“Maybe, I don’t know, this might sound like a wild idea but how about you just fucking tell him that instead of crying to me every single time,” Sicheng was an honest person, brutally honest, and it never bothered him in any way because it meant that in situations like these, he could tell Hendery anything he wanted without having to face the guilt Kun always feels when he tries to reason with Ten. Sicheng has never felt guilty for being honest. “And don’t come at me with ‘but I always tell him’ because the fact that you confess to him with complicated Chinese sentences you know he won’t understand is not only disgusting, but also very invalid when you’re talking with someone who can’t understand shit.”

Right, that’s a thing that should be mentioned. Hendery always confesses to Ten, at least twice every tutoring session, Ten just doesn’t understand. The first few lessons Hendery went for simple sentences like _‘you look cute today’_ or _’I love your eyes’_ , but Ten’s Chinese is much better now, so he had to get more creative with sentences like _‘your inner beauty is even more beautiful than your outside appearance’_ to which Ten simply replied with _‘what the fuck we’re in the middle of tutoring, we’re not gonna go outside’_ because _‘outside’_ was the only thing he really got from the whole sentence. Hendery just smiled at him and moved on. (Ten just assumed he’s about to get murdered.) 

“You know what, fuck you,” Hendery tried to argue back, but his swearing always just sounded cute, not threatening. “I’ll tell him he’s cute the next time I see him,” he promised and Sicheng just mumbled a quiet _okay cowboy_ and went to completely ignoring his roommate because he’s had enough of him for the day. Sicheng wasn’t a bad friend, he really wasn’t, but he also wasn’t the type of person to ponder on anything when there was an obvious solution to the problem. In Hendery’s case, the solution was _to bone_. 

  


As expected, Hendery didn’t say anything to Ten the next time he saw him. Well technically he did; he said _‘the day on which I don’t see you feel three autumns long’_ but it’s not like Ten understood that. He just replied with _‘I don’t know, I guess autumn is nice but I prefer the spring’_. Hendery nodded, acting as if that’s in any way connected to what he said, but made sure to remember that Ten prefers spring to any other season, just like he remembered every other little thing Ten was willing to share. It wasn’t much considering Ten still believed Hendery smiling at him equals Hendery plotting his murder, but at least he shared something. 

The breaking point for their relationship was when one day Hendery couldn’t be bothered with his appearance and showed up in sweats and one of his oversized hoodies. Now that may not seem like a big deal but it really was, because Hendery always made sure he looks put together, and he paid close attention to every detail of his own appearance. It wasn’t necessarily because he wanted to impress someone, he just liked looking presentable, and while he didn’t mind others wearing whatever they find comfortable and even understood the appeal of just throwing a hoodie on and going out, it just wasn’t Hendery’s style. 

“Is everything alright?” Ten asked the second he saw Hendery and admittedly the younger of the two was puzzled by the question. Mostly because Ten has never asked him a question that would show he worries about him, but also because he had no idea why exactly everything shouldn’t be alright. Seeing the younger’s clearly confused, Ten continued. “I mean you always look preppy and what not,” all the worry was gone the second Hendery assured him that nothing is wrong, but it still became an important moment for them; particularly for Ten. 

“So you’re telling me you ‘hate’ him just because you’re intimidated by him because he looks like he has his life together?” Kun didn’t get vulgar too often, he was probably the most patient human being to ever walk on this planet, but even Kun could feel his eye twitch after Ten gave him the explanation, if you could even call it that. “Do you automatically hate everyone whose live isn’t in shambles? Do you realize that that doesn’t make any fucking sense?” now, Ten realized that, he really did, but it’s not like he could do anything about it now. He’s never realized that all of this petty hatred was just about Hendery being smart, wise even, talented, friendly, kind, really handsome, like really really handsome and _fuck_ , Ten likes Hendery. 

“No shit, Sherlock,” Kun uttered after Ten voiced his confession. Again, Kun was a patient person, he really was, but after dealing with this for six whole months, the confession didn’t even make him happy anymore because of the long long overdue. 

“Was I that obvious?” Ten then asked, suddenly worried because while he now accepted that he doesn’t hate his tutor, he definitely wasn’t ready for his tutor to find out as well. There were still certain things Ten needed to figure out before going all out. “He’s young,” and Hendery’s age was one of those things. 

“That’s not a good enough excuse, he’s only three years younger and you yourself thought he’s older than you when you first met,” that was true, Ten had to admit that. Hendery looked older when he wasn’t smiling because of the way he carried himself and the way he dressed. He didn’t dress like a grandpa in any way, but he always looked like he’s ready for a press conference at any point of time. He was also really smart for a nineteen year old, and not just when it came to school. He was one of those wise souls stuck in a teenager’s body. But when he smiled, he had this boyish charm all around him, and it always took a lot for Ten not to smile back at him. He usually tried to convince himself that that smile means Hendery is out to kill him. It was a dumb defense mechanism now that Ten’s thinking about it. 

“It feels weird, he’s still at college,” Ten tried again but Kun, a college student himself, even older than Ten, quickly turned that argument into shambles just by looking at him. “Okay, fair enough, maybe I’m just not ready for it and it has nothing to do with his age,” this time Kun couldn’t say anything because it’s not like he could decide whether Ten’s ready or not; that was something he had to figure out by himself. 

“You weren’t obvious, by the way,” Kun finally decided to answer the question Ten asked good fifteen minutes back. “Hendery believes you hate him,” and maybe that was supposed to make Ten feel better, but it really didn’t. He thought back to all the times he must have made Hendery feel like Ten despises his whole existence, and suddenly it didn’t matter whether he’s ready or not because there’s no way Hendery would like someone like Ten. 

“I like him so much,” Hendery announced when he got home that day. Sicheng usually ignored him because all he ever talked about was Ten and how much he hates him, but Sicheng’s interest was piqued when Hendery came home saying the exact opposite. It’s not like they didn’t know it before, but Hendery never started their conversations saying that. “He was worried about me today,” he said with a smile on his face. (Sicheng would call it a dumb smile, Ten would think it’s cute.) 

“I would also be worried if you showed up looking like this,” Sicheng snickered and motioned to Hendery’s outfit. “But good for you I guess, maybe you’ll get to bone after all,” he added and walked to his own room, leaving Hendery and his love issues in the living room. 

  


“You look cute,” Hendery mumbled the next time they had a lesson. He still wasn’t able to say it in English, but he knew that Ten will understand the basic sentence even in Chinese. By the look Ten gave him, it was safe to assume he understood right away. 

“You’re not funny,” Ten said back and the tone he used made Hendery shut up right away even though every cell in his body was screaming at him to tell Ten that he’s not trying to be funny, that he actually means it. “I know I’m cute,” he then added with a little smirk on his face, and that action itself made Hendery a bit less scared. Not that he would be scared of Ten, he was just scared of Ten hating him even more than he already does. 

Hendery never truly understood what made Ten hate him so much in the first place, but he never had the guts to ask. He’s tried to get it out of both Sicheng and Kun, but all he got from Sicheng was _do I look like I care? Just ask him yourself_ and Kun, being the angel he is, apologized with _I’m not really sure myself, I’m sorry._ Hendery wanted to ask, he really did, but he was scared of what’s the answer going to be. 

  


“Ten doesn’t hate you,” Sicheng told him one evening when they were preparing dinner (preparing dinner in their case meant heating up whatever Kun was kind enough to cook for them). “Kun told me when he stopped by earlier. I didn’t ask for details because A, I don’t care enough and B, Kun wouldn’t tell me anyway, but yeah, he doesn’t hate you apparently,” now a revelation like that was a big thing for Hendery. Sicheng said it as if he was going over shopping list with absolutely zero interest in his voice, but Hendery knew there and then that he’s going to ponder on it for a while. 

And the pondering started that very night when Hendery tried his very best to fall asleep, knowing he has a class at 8am the next morning, but thoughts about Ten kept him awake. It’s been a few months ever since he started tutoring the man and it’s also been a few months ever since he started developing feelings for him. It was just attraction at first, and Hendery didn’t care about it that much because Ten is a beautiful man, it wasn’t that groundbreaking that he found him attractive, but few weeks into their tutoring sessions Hendery realized that it’s not just attraction anymore. Sicheng never understood how Hendery could start catching feelings with the way Ten was acting towards him, and truth to be told Hendery himself didn’t exactly get how it happened, but it did. 

Hendery never really planned to confess because knowing Ten hates him made it seem like A, a stupid decision and B, an useless decision, but after finding out Ten doesn’t really hate him and pondering about that fact the whole night, he came up with an idea to let him know just how much he means to Hendery. 

“That’s disgusting, please tell me you’re joking,” Sicheng worded his distaste towards Hendery’s plan the second Hendery told him. “Have you ever met Ten? He’s not into shit like that,” Sicheng might be right about that one, but Hendery wanted to go through with it anyway.

“But I’m into stuff like that, and if I want him to like me, I can’t pretend to be someone I’m not just for the sake of it. I want him to like me for me, not for a version of me I created to match his standards,” Sicheng would usually clown him for being a hopeless romantic, but he could see that Hendery really wants to do this both for Ten and for himself. “And even if he doesn’t like it and goes back to hating me, at least I’ll know I tried my best,” Hendery then added and all Sicheng could do at that point was voice his support for his roommate. Hendery has a big heart and hopefully Ten will learn to appreciate that.

  


“Why are we meeting up here? We’re usually at the library,” Ten said after they sat down in a little café close to the campus. He didn’t question it over text because, to be very honest, he didn’t feel like texting Hendery more than necessary, but now that they were actually here, Ten got curious as to why exactly they _are here_. 

“Change of scenery, I guess,” Hendery said with a smile. He was back to his perfect collected self, but Ten could still see the boyish charm from their last session. “What do you want? My treat,” Hendery then asked before Ten got the chance to think about his _boyish charm_ for too long. He wasn’t the brightest when it came to dating, so he didn’t really question Hendery’s need to pay for his drink and just told him what he wants right away. Ten didn’t think much of the bright smile Hendery gave him when he accepted the free drink, and they got into their lesson right away. That was it for day one of Hendery’s little plan, and he was more than happy with how it went. 

Now the success of their second day depended all on Ten which was a bit nerve-racking for Hendery, but he just hoped for the best as he sent Ten a text asking whether he wants to go back to the library this time or if he likes having study dates at the café. The term _study dates_ specifically being the reason why Hendery was so scared of Ten’s reaction. So it really wasn’t that surprising that Hendery was beyond thrilled when Ten replied with _the café would be nice, but only if you pay again_ and honestly Hendery was willing to buy the whole café for Ten at that point. 

And while Ten was so beautifully oblivious to the fact that he’s being courted, Kun could tell right away after his roommate told him about the _change of scenery_ Hendery came up with. He decided not to interfere and kept quiet, but he couldn’t help but text Sicheng to tell Hendery to wear something very casual for their next study date. Hendery, bless his heart, didn’t question it and wore a pair of ripped jeans and a hoodie. 

And boy was that a great decision. 

“You look good like this y’know,” Hendery’s heart stopped for a second when Ten said that. It wasn’t much, it really wasn’t, but it was the nicest thing Ten’s ever told him. “You always look super preppy and there’s nothing wrong with that, but you look really nice like this, boyish charms and all that bullshit,” it was a weird compliment and Hendery wasn’t sure if Ten is into the boyish charms thing or not, but considering it was Kun who told him to wear this, he assumed Ten liked it. And the outfit was really comfortable so it was a win-win situation really.

The third study date was really risky because while Ten still had no idea Hendery’s trying to court him by taking him to the café and paying for him, it would be really difficult to cover up this one and make it look like it’s still just about tutoring. 

  


“So we’re not gonna study?” Ten asked when the plan was revealed to him at the end of their study date. “What’s the point then?” Hendery was a smart man, extremely smart, but he wasn’t sure if he’ll be able to talk his way around this one. 

Nothing wrong with trying though, right?

“The people there speak only basic English and I’ll let you do all the talking except if you really need help, so we will be able to test out how good your skills are in actual real life conversations,” _sounds believable, good going_. “Because while I try to speak at normal speed, I know I subconsciously slow down often to make sure you’ll understand everything,” realistically, they could just do a few listening tasks to test this out, but nothing wrong with taking Ten to a Chinese restaurant, right?

Everything was going smoothly, Ten ordered their food without any major issues but once that was done, Hendery realized he definitely should have planned it better because because he wasn’t prepared for Ten’s “okay, what now?” at all. Really, _what now?_ The food was ordered and they didn’t bring their textbooks or anything, and Hendery was still trying to make this whole thing look like it’s just a study date, but at this point even the ever-so-oblivious Ten must have started to realize that Hendery is just trying to get him out on a date, no studying involved. 

“We can just talk, we don’t do that often,” obviously, they talked a lot about vocabularies and grammar and all that ‘fun’ stuff, but they rarely went beyond that. It wasn’t that they would be against it (Hendery definitely wasn’t), but they always stuck to their schedule and there wasn’t time left to talk before one of them had to leave. 

“Okay, let’s talk,” Ten chuckled and shook his head. Hendery wasn’t sure what the gesture was supposed to mean exactly, but he didn’t question it. “Hendery, is this a date?” Hendery knew that Ten is an honest, straightforward person, but hearing him ask about this whole ordeal so directly rendered him speechless for a good minute. They weren’t surrounded by awkward silence though because Ten made sure to laugh at Hendery’s reaction. (He found it cute.) 

“I mean I would like it to be a date,” Hendery finally remembered how to talk. “But if you’re not okay with that, that’s completely fine and we can just forget this whole thing and pretend it never happened,” he should have stopped after the first sentence and he was aware of that yet he couldn’t stop himself from blabbering on and on. Hendery found himself really embarrassing at that moment. (Ten found him cute.) 

“Shut up, Hendery,” Ten said while still chuckling slightly and Hendery was sure there and then that he blew all the chances he might have had with Ten. “It’s a date,” or not. Once again the younger of the two was rendered speechless while the older one started laughing. It was a weird sort of defense mechanism; laughing at Hendery instead of gushing over how adorable he is. 

After Hendery got over the initial shock of Ten actually accepting his sad attempt at courting, their date went perfectly fine. They finally got to talk about things other than Chinese grammar and pronunciation, and both of them were a bit taken aback by just how much they had in common. Hendery confessed that he’s always thought that Ten hates him, and Ten confessed that he really thought he hated Hendery. It became obvious that he’s never hated him at all very soon into the evening. 

  


“How was the date?” Kun asked Ten after he got back home few hours later. “Don’t look so shocked, you were literally the only person who didn’t realize what Hendery was trying to do,” he added and laughed at his roommate who was still just staring at him. 

“I mean it was great but am I really the only one who didn’t know?” Ten prided himself in being smart, so not seeing past this took a toll on his ego. (His ego was big enough to handle it though.) 

“Sicheng probably knew from Hendery himself, but I realized the second you told me about his need to change the scenery,” _damn_ , Ten could have realized that. It was pretty obvious now that he looks back at it. “Let’s not talk about how romantically impotent you are and tell me how we feel about Hendery instead,” Ten would usually comment on the romantically impotent part, but truth to be told he really wanted to talk about Hendery. 

“He’s so nice?” Ten asked more than announced and by the look on Kun’s face it was safe to assume that that’s not nearly enough. “We talked a lot – obviously – and it turned out we actually have a lot in common which I never really considered. I’ve always believed that we’re polar opposites in every way possible, but we’re not. I mean we are different personality wise, that’s for sure, but our hobbies and our views and opinions on the world are basically the same,” now that was enough for Kun. He wasn’t sure just how much they had to talk for Ten to know that their _views on the world_ are similar, but he didn’t dare to question it. Ten seemed happy, and Kun knew for sure that Hendery must be over the moon right now. 

Hendery really was over the moon when retelling every detail of their date to his roommate – Sicheng wasn’t as excited. 

  


After their first successful date, Hendery gained a lot of confidence and courage when it came to asking for more dates and throughout the next month, the two of them met up more often for the purpose of going somewhere and maybe kissing a little instead of tutoring. Neither of them minded too much. Ten’s Chinese skills were enough for his job and he really wasn’t one to do more than necessary when it came to work. 

“When did you start liking me?” Ten asked on their nth date; this one being the two of them just watching a movie in Hendery’s room (and cuddling on his bed). “I mean I wasn’t the nicest person to be around,” he admitted. It was on his mind a lot lately; he honestly wouldn’t start liking himself if he was Hendery. 

“Kinda embarrassing to say but I liked you from the moment we met basically,” Hendery said calmly even though his heart was about to jump out of his chest. “I mean it was purely physical attraction at first, but I started liking you pretty early on, I honestly don’t know why, it just happened and by the time I realized, it was too late to back out,” it wasn’t the most romantic confession ever, but it was honest and Ten liked that a lot. 

“I’m honestly not sure when exactly I started liking you,” even though he wasn’t asked to, Ten knew Hendery wanted to know his side of their story as well, so he got to explaining. “But I realized I like you the first time you dropped the preppy boy closet and showed up in a hoodie,” Hendery suspected as much, but it was still nice to hear it from Ten himself. Over the course of the last few weeks they’ve been going on dates, Ten told him that he likes seeing him in more comfortable clothes and while Hendery liked his _preppy boy closet_ , he never hesitated to wear sweats and a hoodie when he knew they’ll just be hanging out at either or their apartments. 

“I can’t believe I ever thought I hate you,” Ten chuckled and pulled Hendery closer so that he could kiss him; the movie playing in the background long forgotten by both of them. 

  


Hendery is a kind man, he really is. He enjoys helping people around him with anything and everything, and one would even say he always puts others before himself. Everyone who’s ever as much as said hi to him would confirm this, because Hendery is just that kind of person, loved by everyone around him (and rightfully so). 

Everyone loves Hendery and Ten isn’t an exception.

**Author's Note:**

> hit me up on [twitter](https://twitter.com/almightykdy) if you want to talk or yell at me, your choice


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